System of self-tamping pavement formed by two reciprocally penetrated sets of blocks substantially of truncated pyramid shape

ABSTRACT

A pavement block has an octagonal head merging into a square foot so that the foot of a head down-block sets into the space between four surrounding head-up blocks.

United States Patent Dodino July 29, 1975 [5 SYSTEM OF SELF-TAMPINGPAVEMENT 829,480 8/1906 Mills 404/41 FORMED B T RECIPROCALLY 1,417,0105/1922 Wright 404/41 1,660,459 2/1928 Thomson 404/41 PENETRATED SETS OFBLOCKS 1,812,71 1 6/1931 Pessione 404/41 X SUBSTANTIALLY 0F TRUNCATED2,771,164 11/l956 Scurlock 52/574 x PYRAMID 3,602,] 1 1 8/1971 Clemente404/41 [76] Inventor: Carlo Dodino, Via G. B. Gaulli 21,

Genoa, Italy [22] Filed: Nov. 14, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 415,792

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 20, 1972 Italy 13022/72 [52]US. Cl 404/41; 52/574 [51] Int. Cl. E0lc 5/00 [58] Field of Search404/41, 34; 52/574 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 474,3395/1892 Graham 404/4l Primary ExaminerNi1e C. Byers, Jr. Attorney, Agent,or Firm-W. G. Fasse; W. W.

Roberts ABSTRACT blocks.

1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJULZQISYS FIG/I AGE SYSTEM OFSELF-TAMPING PAVEMENT FORMED BY Two RECIPROCALLY PENETRATED SETS FBLOCKS SUBSTANTIALLY 0F TRUNCATED PYRAMID SHAPE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION The articulated industrial pavements at present in use andconsisting of prefabricated blocks suffer some disadvantages due to thesagging of the resting plane and to horizontal thursts caused bybrakings of heavy vehicles.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims at removing saiddisadvantages by distributing better the unitary loads, discharging onthe ground said horizontal thrusts and keeping the blocks always tampedeven when the ground settles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The objectsand advantages of the invention will further appear in the followingdescription concerning embodiments selected by way of example only withparticular reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows the larger octagonal base of the single element the pavingaccording to the invention is consisting of;

FIG. 2 shows the smaller square base of said element;

FIG. 3 shows an elevation of said element along line IIIIII of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is another elevation of said element along line IV--IV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a plan view from above of the pavement according to theinvention formed by blocks, equal to one another, of the type shown inthe preceding figures and arranged alternatively with the larger baseupwards and downwards respectively;

FIG. 6 is a section along line VI-VI of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With particular reference to thedrawings, the blocks constituting the pavement according to theinvention and shown in details in FIGS. 1 to 4, have the generalappearance of a truncated pyramid, though their geometric shape is morecomplex. In fact, said blocks are formed by a main body in form of asquare base truncated pyramid, the inclinated faces of said truncatedpyramid being denoted in the drawings by numeral 1. From the smallerbase of the truncated pyramid projects a prism with a square base equalto said smaller base, whereby the faces 3 of the lateral surface of saidsquare base prism have their lower base in common with the upper base ofsaid inclined faces 1 of the truncated pyramid.

It is to be :noted that the; terms .upper" and lover above used ihave aconventional meaning and'refer to FIGS. 3"a ndi4 ;as aimatter of fact,as said above, the blocks concerned are to be arranged alternatively onestanding and the other overturned, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Said square basev prism ends at its top with a flat base 4 and theheight of said prism' is defined by reference h and generally will beequal to a portion of the height of said truncated pyramid. 1 1

The inclined faces 1 of the portion of the block in form of a truncatedpyramid do not reach to cross the larger base 5 of said truncatedpyramid. In fact, said inclined faces near said larger base are bevelledfrom the intersection planes between said square base truncated pyramidand an octagonal base regular prism whose sides are equal to the side ofthe square constituting the smaller base of said truncated pyramid.Therefore, on the bottom the claimed block is defined by a side surfaceconsisting of rectangular faces 6 and faces 7 in form of an irregularpentagon. According to the invention, said rectangular faces are to beequal to the rectangular faces 3 of the upper prism 2.

In order to build the pavement, are first arranged a layer of blockswith their octagonal larger base 5 in contact with the ground and withthe pentagonal sides 6 in contact as shown in FIG. 6. Among the layer ofblocks so arranged remain free on the ground many squares with a sizecorresponding to the square smaller base of said blocks, which allows toarrange a second layer of overturned blocks with respect to the positionof the blocks of the first layer. In this way the pavement according tothe invention is obtained as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

The two layers of blocks penetrate into each other and fill completely alayer whose height is equal to the total height of a single block.

It is to be appreciated that the system of blocks according to theinvention is in position to stand the longitudinal stresses without theinclined faces 1 tending to lift said blocks; and that as the verticalsurfaces 3, 6 and 7 avoid the relative vertical sliding between adjacentblocks.

The above characteristics of the invention offer the followingadvantages: blocks particularly strong and easy to be arranged; a higherstability and longer life of the pavement due to the possibility ofdischarging on the rest plane 11 the horizontal stresses 8, caused bybrakings of vehicles, which are transferred onto the ground by the blockadjacent to the one subject to the stresses; a very high reduction inthe unitary loads, as when the load plane 10 consists of the square baseof the block, the weight is distributed on the ground 1 l by theoctagonal base of larger surface, while when the load weighs on theoctagonal base it is transferred by the block on other four blockssurrounding it.

What above described and shown may in practice have different forms, asfor instance bevelled edges, rounded or sinusoidal lateral faces,however still within the present invention.

What I claim is:

1. A system of articulated pavement comprised of a pair of sets ofidentical prefabricated blocks, eachblock being in the form of a regularoctagonal base prism and a square base prism separated by a square basetruncated prism having a larger base toward the octagonal base and asmaller base toward the square base prism, the sides of the larger baseof said truncated pyramid being equal to twice the apothem of the baseof the octagonal prism, the sides of the smaller base of the truncatedpyramid being equal to the sides of the base of said octagonal prism,whereby four edges of the larger base of said truncated prism areparallel to and join four faces of said octagonal prism, the trihedronsof the larger base of said truncated prism being removed which extendbeyond the vertical secant planes of the four faces of the octagonalprism which are not parallel to edges of the larger base of saidtruncated pyramid, said square base prism having sides equal to thesides of the smaller base of said truncated pyramid and heights equal tothe height of said octagonal prism, one set of said blocks having itsoctagonal bases extending downwardly and the other set of blocks beingarranged with its octagonal bases facing upwardly, the blocks of saidsets being inserted one into the other, whereby the upper and lowersurfaces of the blocks of one set are parallel with the lower and uppersurfaces respectively of the blocks of the other set, the blocks of thetwo sets being vertically overlapped whereby each square surface of ablock at the surface of the pavement is surrounded by four octagonalsurfaces of the blocks of the other set and vice versa.

1. A system of articulated pavement comprised of a pair of sets ofidentical prefabricated blocks, each block being in the form of aregular octagonal base prism and a square base prism separated by asquare base truncated prism having a larger base toward the octagonalbase and a smaller base toward the square base prism, the sides of thelarger base of said truncated pyramid being equal to twice the apothemof the base of the octagonal prism, the sides of the smaller base of thetruncated pyramid being equal to the sides of the base of said octagonalprism, whereby four edges of the larger base of said truncated prism areparallel to and join four faces of said octagonal prism, the trihedronsof the larger base of said truncated prism being removed which extendbeyond the vertical secant planes of the four faces of the octangonalprism which are not parallel to edges of the larger base of saidtruncated pyramid, said square base prism having sides equal to thesides of the smaller base of said truncated pyramid and heights equal tothe height of said octagonal prism, one set of said blocks having itsoctagonal bases extending downwardly and the other set of blocks beingarranged with its octagonal bases facing upwardly, the blocks of saidsets being inserted one into the other, whereby the upper and lowersurfaces of the blocks of one set are parallel with the lower and uppersurfaces respectively of the blocks of the other set, the blocks of thetwo sets being vertiCally overlapped whereby each square surface of ablock at the surface of the pavement is surrounded by four octagonalsurfaces of the blocks of the other set and vice versa.